The processing of logs into wood chips requires an apparatus to remove the bark and limbs from the logs and an apparatus to reduce the partially processed logs into chips. Bark is considered to be a contaminant in the chips, so it is desirable to completely remove all bark prior to the chipping process. Debarking assemblies frequently comprise two or more rotating shafts to which are attached multiple flails, and it is common for the debarking assembly to be combined with the log chipper. Logs are introduced into the space between the shafts of the debarking assembly in a direction normal to the axes of rotation of the shafts. Typically, the shafts are arranged so that at least one is an upper shaft and another is a lower shaft, although they may be laterally offset from each other. In such a device, the feed line along which the logs are passed through the machine is located between an upper shaft and a lower shaft. In order to remove the bark and limbs from the log, at least some of the flails on the upper shaft must reach down along the sides of the log to at least the mid-point. Similarly, at least some of the flails on the lower shaft must reach upwardly along the sides of the log to the mid-point. The length of the flails on each shaft is dictated by the size of the smallest log that is intended to be debarked.
Flails may be thirty-six inches long or longer, and are mounted close together. During the debarking operation, the flails will often produce a cloud of bark pieces, some of which will fall back and rest on the log. Even if the chipping machine is separated from the debarking assembly, loosened bark may remain on top of the log as it is transported into the chipping machine. Such bark pieces will then be carried through the chipper and become part of the chip product. It would be desirable if a debarking assembly could be provided that would prevent the contamination of the chip product with bark pieces.